I recently appeared on CIO Talk Radio to discuss the growing challenge brought by increased diversity of computing devices in the workplace and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend. There is no question that customers are increasingly embracing their own technology in the workplace, and in many cases believe the technology they themselves own is superior to that provided by their employers. The tablet computer is certainly one big part of this, and the ultimate impact may be as disruptive as that brought by the original PC.

IT executives like Steve Phillips, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Office of Avnet, my co-panelist on the CIO Radio broadcast, are beginning to see that desktop virtualization provides a potentially useful means to separate the realm of the corporate environment from the private world of the device user in this increasingly diverse environment. Outsourcing suppliers are definitely seeing this trend. They are gearing up for the potentially significant opportunity by running pilots and helping customers implement desktop scenarios, although with some differences from the past: For one thing, a focus on a more selective tiered approach to desktop virtualization as opposed to a one-size-fits-all. That tendency, along with the accompanying high cost for bandwidth, were a stumbling point in the past, as well as several other factors described by my colleague Steven Johnson.

But what do you think? And if considering desktop virtualization, do you envision a role for service partners or will you go it alone?